Barclays Golf 2012: Sergio Garcia Will Cruise to 2nd-Straight Victory

Prior to last week, Sergio Garcia had not won a PGA event since 2008. Now he is about to win his second in two weeks.

On a Saturday when conditions turned the famed Bathpage Black into an almost unplayable monster, Sergio calmly rolled out, played solid and smart golf and turned his tie for first into a two-shot lead.

He is not going to be caught. He is playing far too solidly and consistently. In fact, the man who was once considered a phenom is playing as well as he ever has.

Last week, he soared to a two-shot win at the Wyndham Championship while proving to everyone, including himself, that he could still handle the pressure and the putts.

These ingredients can quickly derail the emotional Garcia. Over the years, he has been a player who has compounded his mistakes by being unable to control his emotions. He would miss a shot, begin to lose confidence and start a spiral he could not stop.

A lot of his missed shots have occurred on the green. Garcia's putting has been as unreliable as anyone's on the tour.

And this fact is what gives me so much confidence in him at the Barclays. Not that Garcia is an unreliable putter, but that putting hasn't derailed him at this tournament.

On Saturday, the greens were playing insanely fast. Ian Poulter said the greens were "like concrete" as Steve DiMeglio of the USA Today quoted.

They were giving players fits all day. Just ask Tiger Woods who had four three putts in a round for the first time in his professional career.

Yet there was Garcia with his wonderful ball-striking calmly drilling putts to the tune of 1.717 putts per green for the tournament, which has him at 17th in that category.

Only Nick Watney and Kevin Stadler are within three of Garcia entering the final round, and while there are six more who are within five, that is way too much ground for these guys to make up without a collapse from Sergio, and that is not going to happen.